Abortion causes emotional pain

By Megan Finnerty
Features Editor

According to the American Psychological Association, there has not been a study on the psychological effects of abortion on women done in 12 years.

The one that was done in 1989 did not find evidence of "Post Abortion Syndrome," but was inconclusive.

"Post Abortion Syndrome" is a hot topic again, being used, according to the association, by lobbyists to discourage pro-choice legislation and to reinforce the pro-life argument against abortion.

The association’s study reviewed more than 100 U.S. studies on the psychological effects of abortion and concluded that although some research methods were flawed, "the guilt, regret, stress and sadness that may follow an abortion are temporary and mild for the majority of women."

Jan. 22 marked the 28th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision making abortion legal in the United States based on the 14th Amendment’s guarantee of the right to privacy.

Information about subsequent psychological studies on the after-effects of abortion was not available because it was either outdated or made of mostly anecdotal reports, not scientific evaluations.

David Rollock, a professor in the department of psychology, said he has not seen any literature looking at the "syndrome" systematically. He said information on "Post Abortion Syndrome" can’t be found in textbooks and is not a common area of study.

"You’re not going to look in a book and find it there," he said.

According to the association, the "syndrome" is not a scientifically or medically recognized psychological disorder.

But Terri Wykoff of Lafayette's Right to Life Clinic believes that "Post Abortion Syndrome" is real and that many of the women who come to her clinic for help following abortions are suffering from the disorder.

"These women go through something very painful that lasts their whole lifetimes, and the pro-life movement is starting to reach out to these women," she said. "These women had feelings of anxiety, emptiness and loneliness that they couldn't explain and maybe they couldn’t come to terms with and they realize that it’s because they had an abortion several years ago."

Dr. James Jones, the executive director of public interest at the association, said there is much more psychologists need to know about women’s psychological reaction to abortion and other reproductive decisions and that more studies must be done.

The study found that emotions of relief, as well as feelings of regret, stress and guilt are normal following difficult decisions and should not be confused with psychological disorders.

Rollock said that regardless of the labels, when someone is suffering and has pain, that’s real, with or without a label. But he said to label a group of emotions as a "syndrome" there must be a common set of symptoms co-occurring at a certain time with a common theory about what holds it together.

"There may be something to post abortion trauma, but that would have to be validated by repeated observations by people looking at it empirically," he said.

"Women Exploited By Abortion" is a national organization for women suffering from the trauma of abortion and has been around since 1982 when women started telling their stories.

The organization says that many women are not told about options other than abortion, that women are not educated about what the procedure is like and that there is a lack of support for women before and after the procedure.

Wykoff said, "It’s not a simple, easy choice, and it has serious, negative effects down the road. Shortly after the abortion there is a sense of relief, then many women suppress their negative feelings for many years, but many of them say that you can only suppress those feelings for so long."

She said many of the women who say they suffer from the "syndrome" say the birth of another baby triggered the suppressed emotions, or that it was nightmares related to the abortion, or that that feel worse around the abortion’s anniversary.

"The women feel like there is something wrong with them for feeling that way," said Wykoff. "They think they were supposed to have a choice; they made that choice and now they just have to live with it. What they don’t know is that there are a lot of women suffering in the same way, but it’s something they’re not supposed to talk about.

"These women have to go through a mourning process, but they’re not allowed to do that. I think there’s a lot of wounded women walking around and I think post-abortion counseling will be very needed in the next couple of years."

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